Cableway system for transporting persons

ABSTRACT

A cableway system for the transport of persons has one or a plurality of vehicles, such a gondolas, that are moved along a route between stations. En route the vehicles are coupled to a conveying or traction cable. In the stations the vehicles are decoupled from the conveying or traction cable, moved through the station, where they are moved past or halted at one or more embarkation or disembarkation points adjoining an entry or exit region for the passengers, where the passengers board or vacate the vehicles. Then the vehicles are once more coupled to the conveying or traction cable and moved out of the station. In at least one of the stations there is provided a screen or wall between the movement path of the vehicle and the entry or exit region for the passengers. The wall is formed with a passage opening for the passengers at the embarkation or disembarkation point.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. §119, of Austrian patent application A 712/2013, filed Sep. 16, 2013; the prior application is herewith incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a cableway system for the transport of persons. The cableway system includes at least one vehicle, which along the route can be coupled to a conveying cable or which, by means of a traction cable that is coupled to the vehicle, is transportable along at least one track cable or along a track. Along the route it is coupled to the conveying cable or to the traction cable and in the stations it is decoupled from the conveying cable or from the traction cable. Then it is moved through the stations and is moved past or halted at at least one embarkation or disembarkation point adjoining an entry or exit region for the passengers, wherein it is boarded or vacated by the passengers. Thereupon it is once more coupled to the conveying cable or to the traction cable and moved out of the station.

By cableway systems according to the present patent application are understood both systems for the transport of persons of the kind in which vehicles, in particular gondolas, are coupled to a conveying cable guided via supporting towers and are moved by said conveying cable, or in which the vehicles are transportable along at least one track cable and are moved by means of a traction cable and, moreover, also systems of the kind in which the vehicles are transportable along tracks, in particular along rails, wherein they can be coupled to a traction cable by which they are moved.

Cableway systems of this type have terminal stations and, if need be, intermediate stations, in which the vehicles are moved at very slow speeds or halted, so that they can be boarded or vacated by the passengers. These stations are generally configured as buildings, in which waiting rooms, restaurants, buffets, cash desks, wash rooms and the like are located. Furthermore, these buildings are configured either with openings, through which the vehicles are moved along a movement path into the building or the movement paths run alongside the buildings. In the regions of the buildings, the vehicles are moved at a very low speed or brought to a halt, so that the passengers can board them and/or disembark. After this, the vehicles are reaccelerated and moved away from the building. Located alongside the movement paths of the vehicles are platforms, on which the passengers linger in order to be able to board the vehicles or onto which the passengers make their way after vacating the vehicles.

Due to this arrangement of the platforms, virtually the same climatic conditions prevail in the regions thereof as outside the stations.

Furthermore, as a result of the movement of the vehicles, namely as a result of their decoupling from the conveying cable or from the traction cable, as a result of the deceleration of the vehicles, as a result of the drives for the vehicles, as a result of their movement along guide rails, as a result of their coupling to the conveying cable or the traction cable, as a result of the acceleration of the vehicles for the exit from the stations and the like, strong noise developments occur, to which the passengers located on the platforms are exposed.

In contrast thereto, the vehicles which are boarded or vacated by the passengers can be air conditioned, in particular heated, and, moreover, soundproofed.

The passengers located on the platforms are thus exposed to adverse acoustic conditions and, in dependence on the general climatic conditions, possibly also to adverse climatic conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a cableway transport system that overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and methods of this general type and which provides for an improvement which avoids the drawbacks for the passengers of cableway systems who board or alight from vehicle gondolas.

With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a cableway system for transporting persons, the cableway system comprising:

at least one vehicle to be coupled to a conveying cable or a traction cable for moving the vehicle along a traveling route between stations with the vehicle being coupled to the conveying cable or the traction cable, and wherein the vehicle is decoupled from the conveying cable or the traction cable while being moved through a station along a movement path, and the vehicle is once more coupled to the conveying cable or the traction cable for moving out of and away from the station;

a station building formed with an entry or exit region for the passengers where the at least one vehicle on moving through the station is moved past, or briefly stopped, at an embarkation or disembarkation point adjoining the entry or exit region for the passengers, where the vehicle is boarded or vacated by the passengers;

the station building having a screen disposed between the movement path of the vehicle and the entry or exit region for the passengers, the screen having at least one passage opening formed therein for the passengers at the embarkation or disembarkation point.

In other words, the objects of the invention are achieved by virtue of the fact that in at least one of the stations, between the movement path of the vehicle and the entry or exit region for the passengers, there is provided a screen, in particular a wall, which at the embarkation or disembarkation point is configured with at least one passage for the passengers. Preferably, the screen, in particular the wall, is configured with two through passages, of which a first is intended for the passengers boarding a vehicle cabin and a second is intended for the passengers alighting from a vehicle cabin.

Furthermore, the at least one passage can be configured with a door or the like, wherein this door is controlled by the position of the vehicle cabin which is moving toward it.

According to a further embodiment, the station building is adjoined by a tunnel-like housing, in which the movement path for the at least one vehicle is located.

Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.

Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a cableway system for the transport of persons, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.

The construction and method of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a station of a cableway system according to the invention;

FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a station of a cableway system according to the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a side view of a third embodiment of a station of a cableway system according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a first embodiment of a station of a cableway system, which has a station building 1. The cableway system is configured with a continuously circulating conveying cable 2. Along the route between stations vehicles 3 are clamped to the conveying cable. The vehicles 3, in the illustrated case are gondolas with cabins 30. In the stations, the conveying cable 2 is guided via deflection pulleys 21, also referred to as head-wheels. At least one of the deflection pulleys 21 is driven. The conveying cable 2 is moved at a constant speed of, say, 7 m/sec to 10 m/sec. The vehicles 3 travel in the direction of an arrow A.

In an alternative conveyance system, the carrying cable for the vehicles 3 is a stationary cable (e.g., single or double) or a rail system extending between the stations and supporting the vehicles. In that case, the vehicles are provided with a roller head which rolls on the cable. Drive power is transferred to the vehicles by a traction cable to which the vehicles are coupled between the stations and which pulls the vehicles en route from one station to the another station.

In the station, the vehicles 3, after having been decoupled from the continuously running conveying cable 2 or from the traction cable, are moved through the station along guide rails 4. Following the decoupling from the conveying or traction cable 2, the speed of the vehicles 3 is reduced to around 0.3 m/sec by way of a battery of deceleration tires 41. At this speed, the vehicles 3 are moved by conveyor tires 42 through a boarding area, with the embarkation and disembarkation points for the passengers. Subsequently, the speed of the vehicles 3 is increased to the speed of the conveying cable 2 by way of a battery of acceleration tires 43, whereupon the vehicles 3 are re-coupled to the conveying or traction cable 2.

For the purpose of boarding the vehicle cabins 30, the passengers are located in an entry and exit region 11 located within the station building 1.

The station building 1 is closed off from the movement path of the vehicles 3 by a wall 12 located directly alongside the movement path of the gondolas 30. In this wall 12 there is provided an opening 13, through which the passengers make their way from the entry region 11 into the vehicle cabins 30 or the passengers make their way out of the vehicle cabins 30 into the exit region 11 and thus into the station building 1.

The effect of the wall 12 is that the passengers who are located in the entry and exit region 11 and who wish to board the vehicle cabins 30, or who have just left the vehicle cabins 30, are very largely protected, on the one hand, against the climatic conditions prevailing outside the station building 1 and, on the other hand, against the acoustic emissions caused by the operation of the cableway system.

Since the distance between the wall 12 and the vehicle cabins 30 can amount to just a few centimeters, the passengers, when boarding or alighting from the vehicle cabins 30, are almost completely protected against climatic and acoustic nuisances.

The second embodiment, represented in FIG. 1A, of a station building 1 of a cableway system differs from the first embodiment according to FIG. 1 by virtue of the fact that two passages 13 a and 13 b are provided in the wall 12, wherein the passage 13 a is intended for those passengers who are alighting from a vehicle cabin 30 and the passage 13 b is intended for those passengers who are boarding a vehicle cabin 30.

As can be seen, furthermore, from FIG. 2, the station building 1 can be adjoined by a tunnel-like housing 10, which almost fully encloses the movement path of the vehicle cabins 30, whereby an additional screen against climatic or acoustic nuisances for the passengers is realized.

The passages 13, 13 a, 13 b can be configured with doors. Preferably, these doors are controlled such that they open upon the approach of a vehicle cabin 30.

The above-described configuration of a station building 1 having a wall 12 which, at the embarkation and disembarkation point, is configured with at least one passage 13, 13 a, 13 b is not limited to the design of the cableway system. It can be provided both in cableway systems of the kind in which, as represented in the illustrative embodiments, is provided a conveying cable 2, to which the vehicles 3 are coupled along the route, wherein in the stations they are decoupled from the conveying cable 2 and are moved through the stations. However, it can also be provided in cableway systems of the kind in which the vehicles, in the route, are transported by means of at least one traction cable along at least one track cable or a fixed cable track, wherein in the stations they are decoupled from the traction cable and are moved at reduced speed through the embarkation and disembarkation points for the passengers. 

1. A cableway system for transporting persons, the cableway system comprising: at least one vehicle to be coupled to a conveying cable or a traction cable for moving the vehicle along a traveling route between stations with the vehicle being coupled to the conveying cable or the traction cable, and wherein the vehicle is decoupled from the conveying cable or the traction cable while being moved through a station along a movement path, and the vehicle is once more coupled to the conveying cable or the traction cable for moving out of and away from the station; a station building formed with an entry or exit region for the passengers where said at least one vehicle on moving through the station is moved past, or briefly stopped, at an embarkation or disembarkation point adjoining said entry or exit region for the passengers, where said vehicle is boarded or vacated by the passengers; said station building having a screen disposed between said movement path of said vehicle and said entry or exit region for the passengers, said screen having at least one passage opening formed therein for the passengers at said embarkation or disembarkation point.
 2. The cableway system according to claim 1, wherein said screen is a wall.
 3. The cableway system according to claim 1, wherein said screen has first and second passage openings formed therein, said first passage opening being provided for the passengers boarding a vehicle and said second passage opening being provided for the passengers alighting from the vehicle.
 4. The cableway system according to claim 1, which comprises first and second doors disposed to selectively close said first and second passage openings, respectively.
 5. The cableway system according to claim 4, wherein said doors are controlled to assume an open or closed position in dependence on a position of the vehicle.
 6. The cableway system according to claim 1, which comprises a door disposed to selectively close said at least one passage opening.
 7. The cableway system according to claim 6, wherein said door is controlled to assume an open or closed position in dependence on a position of the vehicle.
 8. The cableway system according to claim 1, which comprises a tunnel-shaped housing annex adjoining said station building and enclosing said movement path of cabins of said vehicles. 